Tableau Public was founded on the belief that it should be easier to tell stories and communicate with data. That belief was the guiding principle behind our first ever hackathon.

Hacking open data: let’s get digital

Our reason for choosing open data as a theme is that, while open data contains stories that empower the general public, spark conversations and enact change, not everyone is data-literate.

In order to understand those stories, people need help. So we asked for it.

From February 17th to 23rd, people from all over the world helped do great things with data by using their visualization skills to produce accessible stories found in daunting open data sets.

Participants chose from one of five topics; agriculture, climate, education, energy and government. They then paired together in data-duos to collaboratively visualize a subset of their team topic using the data set of their choice.

The turnout for this virtual event was outstanding. A total of 124 people (62 duos) vizzed their hearts out. Their resulting visualizations ranged in topic from global meat production, to local crime rates, to energy production in America and everything in between.

Check out their phenomenal work!

Aurélien Vautier Satheesh Manikandan & Satheesh Manikandan: Temperature since 1850

Biradar Gopal & Charlie Hutcheson: Sustainable agriculture - nutrient balance

Skyler Johnson & Peter Gilks: The meat map - global meat production by country

Laura Peterson & Pablo Saenz de Tejada: Climate change is real

Numa Dhamani & Hemang Bhavasar: Climate risk

Hunter Barrett & Jacob Olsufka: Energy in America

Chloe Tseng & Brit Cava: The hidden genius project

Katie Gaut & Elena Hristozova: Literacy, A fundamental human right

Rebecca Abrahams & Sarah Bartlett: Air pollution is killing us

Kim Unger & Mike Cisneros: We must immediately take action or we may be UNDERWATER!

Mayand & Arjun: Global warming and effect of fossil fuel usage

Ann Jackson & Josh Jackson: Urban forests of NYC

Henrik Varmer & David Pires: Renewable energy

Sean Miller & Divya Bharathi: Trends in the National Assessment of Educational Progress

Adam Green & Dave Kirk: Is Africa being left on the outside?

Myrto & Neil Richards: Climate change has happened

Nicco Cirone & Ravi Mistry: ERASMUS: the adventure is out there!

Danny Ledford & Ty Mutemeri: The rise of solar and USA energy independance

Vidhu Vaibhav & Kashish Chauhan: Literacy rate analysis

Gourav Sharma & Seth Walters: Global energy output

Avinash Tripathi: Global food waste and impact

Abrar Aman & Sushmita Ajaykhosh Agriculture in india

Aishwarya Sivakumar & Shawkath Khan: A broader analysis on global education systems

Kate Esaia & Benjamin Edney: Education of Non-U.S. citizens over 25: 2015

Aaron Lum & Philip Mannering: How does social media feels about climate change?

Gina Bremer: Find your college tool

Padmaharinandan: Analysis on agricultural imports & exports

Tarannum & Alex Dixon: How safe are ivy league schools?

Lindsey Poulter & David Krupp: Visualizing our future - feeding a growing world

Andre de Vries & Valantis: It's NOT always sunny in the Netherlands

Curtis Harris: Child poverty in Utah

Pavani Donepudi: 8th vs 12th grade student enrollment

Mauricio & Kristen: How the world is educating the generation alpha (born post 2000)

Katie Gaut & Burhan: Growing obesity across the world

Jay Batra & Shiva: Mean women school years as % of men

Melissa Schuurman & Justin SJ Lee: Tuition costs rising across Canada

Aisha: Bachelor's and higher level degrees - women

Adam Green & Dave Kirk: Youth Literacy rates of the world

Emily Chen: Food security around the world

Justin S.J. Lee & Marc Soares How arctic ice is disappearing

Anoop Odedra & Michael Hottenrott: Lifelong learning in the European Union

Yana Berkovich & Ali Motion: Impact of disasters on small businesses 2005-2015

Shawn Levin & Josh Tapley: Solar data

Corey Jones: Energy efficiency scores

Amarendra & Sumeet Bedekar: Energy consumption in India

Brian Vancil & Michael Mixon: Impact of charter schools on student achievement

Adam Montague & Beso Elbakidze: Exploring Chicago city crime data

Anand Varanasi & Suraj Shah: Electricity generation in the United States

Sushant & Paul Coogan: There will be natural gas

Kelly Chatterji & Michael Sanville: Sierra Leone's water crisis

David Toro & Madhuram Yadav: Gender-based violence in Cali, Colombia

Avinash & Will Fletcher: Global refugee movement

Henry Clapp: Consumer financial complaints

Shaunak Ponkshe & Mahfooj Khan: Immunization against measles

Gary Chan & Alejandra: Australian labour force - 2015

Kathleen Warrell & Neil Lord: Is the UK really full of refugees?

Gina Bremer: Build a future without a college degree